One Nation leader Pauline Hanson responds to ‘primitive race’ comment outrage

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has responded to outrage over resurfaced podcast comments in which branded Indigenous Australians “the most primitive race” .

Appearing on a little-known podcast in September 2025, Senator Hanson said teaching First Nations histories to children was a “complete waste of time”.

She said a Western Australian teacher had written to her claiming the state was “not teaching Australian history about civil rights” and that it was “actually all leaning towards … teaching about Aboriginal culture and language”.

“For what?” Senator Hanson asked.

“What the hell have they done in this country for … supposedly 60,000 years?

“They’d never invented the wheel. There was nothing here. What are we actually holding up? A few, you know, rock paintings.

“Sorry, they’re the most primitive race on Earth, and we’re supposed to be holding up and saying what they’ve achieved. They’ve achieved nothing.”

The interview, first reported by News24, was given to The JJ Podcast – an obscure podcast that often hosts conservative politicians, including former Liberal prime minister John Howard.

Responding to the outrage, a post to Senator Hanson’s X account later on Monday urged Australians to “have a look”.

“The media is in a tailspin again today about comments made a year ago on this podcast. Have a look. You be the judge,” the post stated.

Senator Hanson did not appear before the media on Monday, either before or after the comments surfaced.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy condemned the “derogatory” comments, and called on Senator Hanson to apologise.

“I certainly feel for First Nations people, in regards to the comments made by Senator Hanson,” she said.

“It’s totally outrageous, completely racist, but also divides our country in a way that we do not want to see happen right here in Australia.”

Senator McCarthy noted Senator Hanson was a representative of Queensland, which was home to a significant number of First Nations peoples.

“You have people from the Torres Strait Islands, Cape York, Cairns. You have people in Mount Isa, in Central Queensland, the Gold Coast area,” she said.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that you represent Senator, and to make the derogatory comments that you have, you certainly owe your constituents from those communities an absolute apology.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said the comments proved “there’s no group in society Pauline Hanson isn’t prepared to kick down”.

“I think it’s only someone who doesn’t know anything about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture who could call it primitive,” she told News24.

Ms Plibersek said Senator Hanson most likely “hasn’t heard” of the Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps, which are estimated to be more than 40,000 years old.

“We’re really lucky in this country to have 65,000 years of history and culture to learn from … If you don’t take the time to learn about a culture, you’ve got no right to call it primitive,” she said.

Speaking to the same broadcaster, opposition education and Indigenous affairs spokesman Julian Leeser said First Australians were key to what makes Australia “a wonderful nation”.

“We have an Indigenous heritage, a British foundation and a multicultural character,” he said.

“It’s the combination of those things that make Australia a great country.

“When you belittle Indigenous culture, you belittle something about what makes Australia great.”

He called Senator Hanson’s comments “very unfortunate”.

In a social media post, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said “all decent Australians” would condemn such comments and “would rightfully be shocked that they came from the leader of a political party”.

“Some of the issues raised by Pauline Hanson are serious debates, many of which I have been very vocal about, but yet again, Senator Hanson has dragged the conversation into appalling territory,” she said.

“Senator Hanson’s statement asking, ‘What the hell have they done in this country?’, is a demonstration of wilful ignorance on her part and reveals her complete failure to understand Australia’s First Peoples.”

Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie, who has been in a high-profile stoush with Senator Hanson, reshared Senator Price’s comments, stating: “Disgraceful from Hanson.

“Well said Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price - Aussies 100 per cent back you on this!” he said.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe said the comments were “completely false”.

She called on the Albanese government to “step up” and deal with racism in Australia.

“We are going down a very dangerous path in dividing this country … there is real hate on the street,” she said.

“We need to bring back what this country is about and that is looking after one another and not hating on one another. I’ve never seen it so bad.”

She said having the world’s oldest culture in Australia was “something to be proud of”.

“Children, when they come into a classroom or come into a ceremony, they learn the importance of land and water and air that we breathe and the animals and what their responsibility is in caring for all of those things for future generations,” she said.

“That is what our culture is about. I’m not sure what Senator Hansen’s culture is about.”

NewsWire has contacted One Nation for comment.

Senator Hanson’s comments surfaced amid backlash over other remarks she made about Anthony Albanese’s mother.

She is also under fire for branding Liberal frontbencher and special forces veteran Andrew Hastie a “traitor”.